ebay turbos

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nselec9552

New Member
I have heard alot of people on here talking about or telling others not to get ebay turbos. What is the deal with them? Are they junk or something whats the deal. I was thinking about getting one of them for either my D16Z6 in my del sol or my D16Y7 in my Civic CX. Ive bought 4-2-1 headers from them and have had some minor alignment problems but not much else
 
well if you've had alingment problems on somethin as simple as a header what gonna happen with the turbo?
 
Seals blow, quality is poor, and they are cheaper for a reason--they are cheaply made. If you wanna do something right the first time, it's probably better to avoid most Ebay parts.
 
not only to they fit poorly, they break and just plain out suck.. lol... glued together usually
 
not only to they fit poorly, they break and just plain out suck.. lol... glued together usually

Your not fibbin'
XSPower.jpg
 
The old phrase "you get what you pay for" rings true. A header is a fairly simple part, so if the workmanship on that is a bit shoddy, you'll probably be alright for a while. I wouldn't trust a cheap, shoddy turbo though...
 
So what would be better for the price? A t04e Dsm Turbo or something off an old lebaron? I am wondering this also. Turbonetics Turbo's I have seen are around 500 just for the turbo itself.
 
There are plenty of chrysler turbos out there that can be had for cheap. Only problem is that the turbine flange isn't a standard t3 (for 99% of them anyways). One of the holes needs to be redrilled or the turbine housing needs to be replaced.

Also, ebay turbos aren't rebuildable, so if you break one you are out the $250 and then if you buy a second one you are at $500, which would buy you a pretty reliable (and rebuildable) turbo.

Some people have had decent luck with them though. These people usually use them for low boost applications (8psi-ish... maybe less). If you are going to run 20-30psi on one, good luck.
 
So what would be better for the price? A t04e Dsm Turbo or something off an old lebaron? I am wondering this also. Turbonetics Turbo's I have seen are around 500 just for the turbo itself.

If you don't have the money for quality parts, my advice would be to hold off on your project and save some more money. Like others have pointed out, if your janky E-Bay turbo takes a shit, then you're just gonna end up dishing out more money to replace it, so you might as well have just saved up and spent more money on a quality turbo to begin with.

And if you're using a junkyard turbo, I'd recommend a rebuild on it...
 
Good Advice. So with that said, paying 500 for a turbonetics would not be a bad choice and it would last longer and hold more psi.
 
The difference between an eBay brand turbo and something like Turbonetics or Garrett is R&D. eBay brands have literally none, they're just copying designs by other turbo companies using cheaper parts and taking shortcuts. This drives the price down and is appealing to a wider base of consumers, but you get what you'd expect, a halfass turbo.
 
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